Services

As an independent and multi-skilled construction cost consultancy, we passionately provide a wide range of services that can be tailored to your specific needs. These include the following:

Quantity Surveying

Any successful construction project requires expert quantity surveyors to use their construction knowledge and cost planning experience in order to offer expert advice on construction costs and procurement options. This begins from the very initial feasibility testing of a project, right through until the handover of the completed building.

At AML Southern, we have a team of highly trained and expert quantity surveyors who bring in-depth knowledge of construction design, costs and programmes, alongside their interpersonal and team management skills.

Our quantity surveyors and project managers will work closely with you to ensure your project is delivered on time and to budget. Some of the ways we can help you with our quantity surveying services include: design economics, procurement, contract administration, commercial management and lifecycle costing.

Every project is unique and below are just a few example of how we can assist you:

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Cost advice

From a ‘ball park’ figure at the very beginning of a project, or simply telling you what you could expect to achieve on a given budget, we can then work with you to put together a budget for your project. During this process you’ll get a better understanding of the financial impact of design or build decisions.

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Cost planning

We can prepare a cost plan from your designer’s preliminary drawings, allocating costs to a building’s different functional elements so you can understand how the budget is apportioned over different elements. We can also help you to understand the budgetary implications of any design changes, allowing you to prioritise and plan accordingly.

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Bills of quantities

We are skilled and experienced in preparing bills of quantities. These mean all tendering contractors can price a project on the same basis. We can also use these bills as a basis for the financial management of a project. If you have bespoke estimating systems, this is no problem – we can prepare bills in a format that can easily be imported into any system.

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Tendering process

Once we understand your requirements for the project, we can recommend the most appropriate tender process for you. We’ll also advise you on the most suitable contractors to be invited to submit tenders. We can then help to assess these and help you choose the best contractor for the project.

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Cost control

Once your project is underway, we can use the cost plan to estimate the cost of any proposed changes and their impact on your project’s overall cost. This will allow you to make any appropriate design decisions so that the overall project budget remains acceptable to you.

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Valuations

We will measure and value the work carried out during a period and recommend a contractor’s payment on account to your project manager. This means that payments will only be made for work that has been performed and that has been carried out according to contractual agreements.

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Final accounts

We will calculate the final cost of your project and agree this with the contractor. We can also provide you with any detailed analyses of the final account that you may require.

Contractors Services

If you need extra cover for a stretched team or you’re simply a small business that doesn’t need to employ full-time quantity surveyors, our contractors services can help.

Our contract quantity surveyors can work for all parties, including developers and contractors, offering a range of traditional quantity surveying skills that you may not have in-house.

Contractors Services Include:

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Commercial support

Additional resources for an existing commercial department or an entire commercial team for a new enterprise, working as an integral part of your own organisation.

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Material scheduling

Free up your own surveyors and buyers using our experience of creating schedules of materials for all levels of project.

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Estimating

We can deliver estimates based on our own measurements or pre-prepared bills of quantity, formulate precise and reliable bids, and ensure your tenders are competitive within the industry.

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Health & safety and CDM

We can help your project remain safe by supporting you on your health and safety plans, risk assessments and compliance with the CDM regs.

Building Surveying

Having a full understanding of the condition of a building is vital for anyone looking to invest in or develop a property. Having this knowledge ensures you’re less likely to make costly mistakes that could jeopardise a whole project.

At AML Southern, we are very skilled and experienced in all aspects of building surveying, meaning we can not only highlight issues and defects, but also put forward solutions that will help ensure your project is delivered efficiently, effectively and safely.

If there are any underlying issues affecting the structural integrity of your property, we will find them. We can carry out a thorough and rigorous survey, and from this intelligence can recommend the right solution for mitigating any issues.

Our building survey services include the following:

pre-acquisition building surveys

condition surveys

planned and reactive maintenance reports

defect analysis and building pathology reviews

insurance issues, such as assessing damage from fire, storm, water and mechanical problems

project completion checks, including snagging or clerk of works inspections.

We can carry out design work for any scope of project, ranging from repairs and alterations, to conversions and new builds.

Our design services cover:

feasibility studies

detailed design

planning applications

building regulation submissions

preparation of schedules of work and specifications

contract administration

project management.

We can also manage the wider aspects of building surveying and assessing your building’s condition.

Our services include:

dilapidations reviews

expert witness

insurance claims

strategic maintenance planning

building diagnostics

party wall surveying, whether acting for the building owner or adjoining owner.

Party Wall Surveying

The Party Wall act is an important piece of legislation which exists to stop anyone’s actions from causing damage or disruption to their neighbours, while making sure they can still carry out work to their property. If you’re planning any building work on your property, or if you neighbour is, it’s likely you’re affected by the Party Wall Act, which sets out certain rights and responsibilities on both sides. The Party Wall Act is complicated and if you fail to meet its requirements, you could lose money and suffer delays to your project, so it’s important to get it right first time.

At AML Southern, we are well versed in all aspects of the Party Wall Act, and can guide you through your obligations and rights in a clear and straightforward way, helping to ensure a satisfactory outcome for everyone involved. This applies whether we are:

Acting for a building’s owner

We can advise you on all the notices required, then draw them up and serve them at the correct times. We’ll also take care of any appointments or other arrangements that are necessary for agreement to be reached; or

Acting for an adjoining owner

If your neighbour is carrying out building work, we can make arrangements for all party wall notices to be sent to us, then prepare and serve any counter notices that may be required. We’ll also make any further arrangements that are necessary for an agreement to be reached.

Project Management

It’s vital that any construction or development project is tightly managed from the outset. If a project is poorly managed, it could suffer from increased costs, length delays and a poor quality outcome. AML Southern provides project management services for all kinds of project, using our experience and skills to ensure a solid plan is developed with care and the ability to handle surprises along the way.

Our project managers provide a single focus of responsibility for all aspects of your project, using best-practice processes for planning, risk assessment, issue logging and change control. Our project management services include the following:

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Pre-construction advice

From feasibility studies and design or specification advice, to planning applications and contractual guidance, we can make sure your project is set up correctly, increasing the likelihood of it being completed on time and within budget.

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Recruitment

We can help you find and choose the best consultants and contractors to deliver your project, ensuring the team has the right mix of expertise and experience.

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Employer’s agent

This could include everything from drafting a project execution plan, to appointing designers or managing third parties. If you need your project to be managed on a day-to-day basis we can also do this in a lead consultant capacity.

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Contract administration

We can ensure your rights are protected and your obligations are fulfilled by managing all of your contracts. This includes document control and ensuring the effective co-ordination of activities and communication.

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Construction

When a construction site is busy, it’s more important than ever to ensure that all the ongoing supervisory, logistical and health and safety tasks are being managed. We can carry out all this ongoing work, liaising closely with our clerks of works and quantity surveyors to ensure that quality, safety, cost and timings are all being tightly monitored.

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Project completion

At the end of a project we’ll do all the final paperwork, including final submission of drawings, warranties, any required inspections, manuals and so on.

Project Monitoring

If you’re involved in a development that’s not under your direct control, there can be certain risks around the design, construction and supervision of the project. At AML Southern we can provide independent expertise to help you identify these risks and monitor the ongoing performance of the project.

Thanks to our in-depth expertise in all aspects of the development, design and construction process, you can be sure we’re providing you with accurate advice and impartial assessments of the progress of a project. This helps to protect your interest and reduce the financial or quality-related risks.

Our project monitoring services include:

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Feasibility studies

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Due diligence

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Analysing developer costs and programmes

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Evaluating contract conditions and advising on inherent risks

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Preparing or executing collateral warranties

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Authorising valuations to facilitate drawdown of funds

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Monitoring the whole construction process

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Making sure a structure is built to the necessary standards, statutory requirements and relevant specifications

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Reviewing final accounts

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Performing completion checks.

Dispute Resolution

It’s not unusual for disputes to arise, even during the best-run construction projects. However, if a dispute isn’t resolved quickly, it could lead to a formal dispute, which could delay a project and carry a risk of financial losses.

Therefore, it’s vital to have expertise available in case a claim is made against you, or if you need to make a claim against another part. At AML Southern we can support you with all aspects of dispute resolution, including putting measures in place to proactively prevent conflicts from arising in the first place.

Expert witness

We can deliver a wide range of expert witness services, providing independent and impartial evidence on any of the following:

contract administration

architectural design and specification

the value and validity of variations in final accounts

delay analysis

extensions of time

loss and/or expense claims

construction defects

professional negligence claims.

Claims support

We also support you with claim preparation and claim defence support, which covers:

critical path analysis

expert reports

final account audits

expert planning

loss and/or expense claims

prolongation claims

quantum claims

disruption claims.

Adjudication

If an independent adjudicator has been appointed to consider the evidence in a dispute, we can support you with both referring and responding to these proceedings. We have had successful involvement in adjudications in the past, and can help ensure the resulting binding decision is the right one.

Contractual advice

Contracts are often very complicated and detailed documents, so it’s vital to be absolutely certain of what any contract actually says. We can offer in-depth advice to clients on the finer points of legal documents, to help ensure you understand and can take advantage of this intelligence.

Arbitration

If you’ve agreed to refer a dispute to a third party for arbitration, it’s important to present or defend the case effectively. At AML Southern we have a strong track record on both sides of arbitration actions, and can represent you in proceedings.

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